


A Tail to Tell

by CobaltCorvus



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 00:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9467537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobaltCorvus/pseuds/CobaltCorvus
Summary: Magnus dresses like a work of art, there's always something new to see every time you look, and Alec is a tad disappointed he didn't notice this little detail before.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based on amorverus's gifset: http://amorverus.tumblr.com/post/156363742438 which just made me spontaneously get an idea infestation until I wrote it out.

It hangs off Magnus’ belt like a tail, swinging with every step he takes. The first time Alec sees the tassel, it’s almost by accident -- a sudden movement in the corner of his vision and he finds himself unable to take his eyes off of it. Throughout the meeting, something about ward security again and he honestly just tunes it all out for once, his gaze wanders back to the accessory. 

“You know, if you wanted to look at my ass I can just walk away,” Magnus’s voice interrupts his thoughts in a smooth purr and Alec’s face heats up even as he tears his gaze away from it. His rumble of a voice, his yellow slitted eyes, even his clothes with that innocuous and yet infuriatingly mesmerizing tassel, his boyfriend is as catlike as it gets. 

And that’s not even the half of it. Alec had thought it would be a one-time thing, discarded along with most of Magnus’s wardrobe after he’d given it a try but it just keeps reappearing. Following every sway of his hips, dangling tantalizingly every time Magnus bends over, or lashing out behind him if he turns around too fast. Finally, Alec’s had enough of it. 

It’s a quiet night after a hectic day, Institute duties and Downworlder business keeping them both separate until the sun has already set and the night-time traffic permeates every corner of the apartment. 

“I just have a few more potions to prepare…” Magnus strides out of the room, the tassel disappearing after him like the trail of a comet. Alec sighs, sets down his things by the door and toes off his boots, padding after Magnus with soft steps. Alec finds him debating between two different books, distractedly tapping at the surface of the table and organizing the herbs and bottles more than actually reading anything. 

It oscillates behind him, the ends brushing over his form-fitting purple pants and catching on the studs running down the sides. Alec reaches out, fingers gathering the cords together the way he’s wanted to do since the first day he laid eyes on it, and tugs.

“What-” Magnus turns with a distracted frown, his ever-moving fingers stilling as Alec moves much, much closer. He looks down at the tassel, as though seeing it for the first time. “Ah, that. Picked it up in a little shop down the street, it’s just a trinket. Anything wrong?” he asks, brows furrowing as Alec continues to stare down at the ornament in his hand, keeping Magnus tethered to him for the moment.

“Nothing, I just… I like it,” he admits, letting himself relax from the long day as he smells the burn of magic that always wafts from Magnus like a perfume. He imagines himself holding the tail of the proverbial tiger but this one, though adorned in beautifully dazzling stripes and with all the power of the jungle behind it, won’t let any harm come to him. It’s the safest he’s felt in a long time.

“You do? Well, you know, I can think of other uses for it too.” Magnus smiles and Alec fights the blush that makes its way onto his cheeks as his mind wanders to catch up with the implications of the suggestion. 

“Maybe the next time you get one,” he mutters, drawing Magnus in for a kiss with a gentle pull of the tassel, tangling his fingers in its strands like a lifeline that would always lead back to home. 


End file.
